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gathered
in fog at the Lot at 1904 East Main, Urbana, at 11:30, with as many spades
and shovels as we could muster, because we had decided this would be a
do-it-yourself groundbreaking--everybody digging in. Silent worship
followed. Some Friends remarked the kids dug with such a good will
that we probably won't need to hire an excavator at all. After the
symbolic groundbreaking, about 40 Friends converged on Wesley Foundation
for the pizza party.
We
have raised over $80,000 for the new meetinghouse from 95 contributors.
Our thanks go out to all those contributors. We are considering going
ahead now to install the commercial kitchen the city codes require churches
to have if they serve the public, and also putting in the room dividers
for the Sunday School spaces. We may have to take out a small mortgage
to finish the meetinghouse, but we have some Friends offering us small
interest-free loans. Perhaps those loans will allow us to finish
building without taking on a mortgage. We expect the excavator to
begin work any day now, and the structure is supposed to be completed by
July 15. This is an exciting time in the life of the meeting.
Nathan
Richard Lasersohn was born May 27, 2002, at two pounds, two ounces to Sharon
Haworth and Peter Lasersohn. He spent several months in NICU.
Meeting helped by carrying in food when he was born and again when he came
home from the hospital. He sometimes attends committee meetings and
gifts us all with his baby smile. Nathan made his first public appearance
at the groundbreaking pizza party.
The
prayer circle began its existence in order to pray for Nathan, but we rapidly
realized we had lots of things needing prayer. For a while we met
twice a week. Later we agreed to lay down the early Sunday prayer
circle and instead invite Friends to request prayers for their concerns
during worship.
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The
study group has just completed reading Lloyd Lee Wilson's Essays
on the Quaker Vision of Gospel Order, and on April 1 will begin reading
The Cloud of Unknowing. We particularly enjoyed Wilson's chapter
on Discernment and Leadings, which spoke to us in a special way.
We have taken advantage of
the conferences offered nearby this spring: Mariellen Gilpin and
Glori Yoder went to the Clerking workshop with Arthur Larrabee at Pendle
Hill Midwest-Evanston; Mariellen Gilpin also went to the Leadership and
Responding to Leadings workshop with Janice Domanik near Princeton, Illinois.
Helen Satterthwaite attended the Nurturing the Nurturer workshop in Wisconsin
last fall, and Jay Mittenthal has attended the Peacemaking and Prayer workshop,
also at Pendle Hill Midwest-Evanston. Charlotte Green, Joan Nelshoppen
and Jay Mittenthal also participated in a Fellowship of Reconciliation
workshop, "From Violence to Wholeness." These conferences enrich
all our lives, not just the lives of the actual participants.
Peace and Service has sent
several letters opposing militarism to newspapers and government officials.
Cam Satterthwaite and Merlin Taber responded to newspaper interviews about
religious pacifism. We have all appreciated the exposure for the
meeting that these efforts have provided.
Mariellen Gilpin continues
to edit What Canst Thou Say?, a newsletter on Quakers, mysticism,
and contemplative prayer. This publication is put together almost
entirely by email, since the editorial team lives widely distributed across
the country, and even in Belize. Several members of our meeting wrote
articles for the May 2003 issue on Birth and Rebirth: Terri Mittenthal,
Jay Mittenthal, Dorothy Neumann, and Gardiner Stillwell (who wrote about
the life of Charlotte Green's mother, Janet Sawyer). In addition,
Beth Schobernd and Carolyn Wilbur Treadway from Heartland Worship Group
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